ALTRUISTIC ATHENS

The act of giving back never gets old.

BY GRACE MILLER | DESIGN BY ABBY BURNS

Mila Kunis recently raised more than $34 million for Ukrainian refugees. Dolly Parton has a foundation to help young students with their education and has been awarded a huge donation from Jeff Bezos. However, not only big celebrities reach out and save up to give back to their community; people in Athens are actively doing the same.

Julia Paxton, an economics professor at Ohio University, gave some words of wisdom on how her class teaches to give back. Paxton has been at OU since 2000 and has been teaching for about 10 years.

She and her students give away about $25,000 every year to different nonprofits and Warren Buffett, the fifth richest person in the world, has a foundation to help them. Her class focuses on teaching emerging students to become leaders of philanthropy by helping them discern which altruistic companies to invest their time and money. The class spends 20 hours with community nonprofits also tasked to think deeply about the motivations of philanthropy.

The students learn about how to give away their money, but Paxton has landed on some “strange findings” while teaching this class. She says society is structured in a way and presents social norms that prevent us from acting kindly. Paxton says one of her students has had to deal with these “norms” when they tried to pay for someone else’s gas, but the recipient assumed ill intent and did not accept.

Social norms are present in everyday life and there are many reasons as to why people decide not to be kind or accept kindness as a result of them. People may think they need to save money, or that poverty cannot be solved because they do not trust that the organization they gave to will spend the money well.

Although sometimes people do not give money due to social standards, Hakan Karaaytu, a teaching fellow at OU and the founder of Bobcats for Earthquake Survivors, thinks differently.

Karaaytu started Bobcats for Earthquake Survivors in February of 2023, shortly after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey. He says OU was very understanding and helped him with the campaign.

Karaaytu says some people took fliers and others did not, but they ended up collecting $5,000 in three days. Bobcats for Earthquake Survivors is a campaign made up of 10 Turkish students and one Turkish-American professor, but they had plenty of other students helping them out.

All of their donations go to earthquake victims through AHBAP, a non-governmental organization that helps those who were affected by the earthquake in Turkey. AHBAP is not an acronym, but a word in Turkish that means friend.

Karaaytu did not want to give back just to give back, he had a personal connection to his donations as he is from Turkey.

Karaatyu fled Turkey and says he came to Ohio knowing he could not go back, despite the love he still has for his country, so he got his green card.

He knew many people that were impacted by the earthquake. Over 50,000 people died and Karaatyu believes people see them as just numbers, but he knows those impacted came from loving families and that those lost are more than a statistic.

The creation of Bobcats for Earthquake Survivors surfaced as the hurt in Karaatyu’s heart for his country grew with the rising numbers of impacted Turkish citizens. Ultimately, he says that he wanted to help himself, as well. Because if he did not, he would forever have pain in his heart.

Paxton’s class and Karaaytu’s campaign encourage students to get involved in altruistic opportunities. In the presence of these opportunities, people are taught to place the deviant label on those who are not showing concern for others in need, rather than the other way around.

Sofia Baris, a freshman studying integrated social studies, wants others to understand how to speak up and voice one’s altruism and opinions.

“It doesn’t matter what people think, it’s about doing the next right thing,” Baris says. “It only matters about you, and you only control your own actions, not anyone else.”

Not only does she speak up, but Baris shows through her actions through being philanthropic. In 2020, she did a head shaving campaign for Pediatric Cancer Research through St. Baldrick’s charity, and she raised over $1,000.

Baris is also outspoken about antisemitism, discrimination, freedom of religion and freedom of religious practice within American society.

Everyone can learn from Paxton, Karaatyu and Baris about how to show their care toward other people. A voice can be used to do many things, but showing support is one of the most impactful.

Whether it is teaching people how to give back, raising money for one’s home, or shaving off a head of hair, anything can make a difference, but the difference starts with the people. b